I was pondering the other day how the profile of our client engagements has been changing over the past couple of years. It is now the case that probably over 50% of our projects are globally based, and yet the Ixxus team have barely batted an eyelid.

On reflection I realised what a staggeringly significant fact that was!

You see, we deliver virtually all of our projects these days on an agile basis, involving daily scrums, stake holder demonstrations, and all of that Agile goodness. In years gone by I have sat through endless meetings and brainstorming sessions to discuss and debate the most successful formulas for global projects. All with healthy degrees of risk and challenges.

So what has Ixxus got that has allowed us to smoothly transition to a global delivery company, without any of the headaches?

In short.... it is the people, and the fact that we have achieved that heavenly goal ... a true sense of ‘one team’.

The Ixxus team are based mainly out of our London headquarters, with large open plan offices. We have firmly believed in the value of face to face time, and that if people get to know each other, truly get to know each other, then they can achieve great things. In my opinion you can only really achieve this if people actually work together: buy sandwiches together, make each other cups of coffee, chit-chat over sick kids, and all the little things that allow you to build relationships...

When a project goes global, the team just travel to wherever they need to be.... just business as usual! We have guys out on site in Istanbul, San Diego, Florida, New York etc ....but they just hook up with their team mates over IM, email, mobile (and a variety of technologies I frankly just don’t understand) and carry on the conversations - whilst delivering great projects.

I think I saw that on a whiteboard someplace referred to as a ‘centre of excellence’ ... I guess that is what we have got!!!

Which is interesting, when we get evaluated alongside some of the large global players, the proposition holds water, and we win. Because although they can cite offices in every major city, they cannot offer a dedicated team that truly know one another, and thereby deliver all of the benefits that a tight team can offer...

We can though....

Cool huh?????